Paragon
by Liquid Atomization
Summary: Rex awakens one day to find that he's had a serious accident. With no recollection of what happened, he sets out to try and discover the truth.
1. Chapter 1

Paragon by Liquid Atomization

Chapter 1

OoOoO

A metallic crash rang out through the quiet night. The sound startled him to the point that he'd reflexively rolled to his feet, then narrowed his eyes in the direction where the sound had come from.

The dim light from the night sky was excellent at hiding the unexpected visitor deep in the shadows. As if the mysterious visitor had only noticed his presence then, he heard a gasp, followed by a shout.

"There you are!" The figure shuffled the rest of the way down the metal stairs. Taking care not to fall again. "Don't move! I got you now!"

It was almost ridiculous, how over the top the voice sounded. The figure stopped at the bottom of the stairs preventing him from seeing anything more than a small silhouette. Not that he needed to see anything else. The voice was one that he knew quite well.

He resisted the urge to laugh, instead turning back so that his legs again dangled from the roof.

"Annie?" he asked, with a perfectly straight face.

She walked towards the edge until she was standing surprisingly close, allowing the light of the stars to illuminate her pale skin. She was beautiful, her hair and her lips were shining, and she was wearing a red dress that came to her knees. The scent of her perfume washed over him, and he ran his eyes along the outline of her figure. There was a somewhat guilty smile on her face while she played with her hair.

"Caught you."

"Um… sure," he said. "What are you doing here, Annie?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that?" she replied immediately, face heating up. "What are you doing here? And at this hour, no less?"

"It's late. Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he asked instead. "Don't girls require beauty sleep or else they'll become hideous?"

"Ugh, no! Don't answer a question with another question!" she yelled. "Especially not one as terrible as that!"

However, as Rex tilted his head questionably, she continued in a much more steady voice. "Uh, Noah… he, he was a bit worried. After the accident and all..."

She laughed awkwardly.

"I see…"

Several seconds passed, during which they looked at each other in silence. Annie was the first to look away.

"I agree. You stay out here all night and you're liable to get sick."

Rex wasn't sure whether to sigh or smile. Her presence, while quite unexpected, wasn't exactly well to say...unwanted. She had long since proven herself to be a great source of help when she wanted to be and he figured help was the kind of thing he needed, especially at times like these.

"Don't worry. I'm fine."

She put her hands on her hips and pouted. "Are you really okay?"

Rex leaned on his arms, watching her in amusement as he absently reached for the ear piece he kept with him at all times. Sighing, Rex glanced towards the horizon.

"Maybe... " he trailed off. "I'm not so sure."

From the corner of his eye, he noticed that she looked as if she wanted to say something more, but didn't. Instead, she waited in silence for him to get up, with an ever present smile that he'd gotten so very used to seeing on her face.

They walked to the dorms in silence, focused on their own thoughts. The soft green light of the floor strips merely added to the mood, just barely allowing them to see where they were going.

"Hey Annie?" Rex suddenly asked, stopping.

"Hm?"

"Why won't anyone ever tell me about the accident?"

Annie's face was sober as she avoided his eyes. "Y-you know I can't tell you that Rex."

Rex slammed his fist into the wall. "And why not? I deserve to know don't I?"

Annie was silent.

"Well? Don't I?"

Annie didn't answer.

Rex smacked his head next to the hand.

As much as he tried to make it through the past few weeks without making it obvious, there was still an emptiness inside him. He knew something was up the moment he come to that night. The faces. The cover ups. Even his own mind was hiding things from him.

But that was in the past and it would be wrong to say that he didn't cherish the life he had now as much as, or possibly even more than, the life he'd probably lived before.

Feeling something brush his shoulder, he turned, only to find Annie's face millimeters from his own and coming closer. Their cheeks touched for less than a second before she pulled away, burying her face in her hands.

She looked lost, for a moment, maybe even a bit surprised. But the moment passed, leaving only a familiar smile on her face.

"Rex-"

She took hold off his hand, threading their fingers together before turning him around.

"Just hold on."


	2. Chapter 2

Paragon by Liquid Atomization

Chapter 2

OoOoO

The streets of the city were as busy as ever. Cars screeched and honked as they slowly moved through traffic. People slowly trudged by on their phones, each lost in their own problems.

Across the table, Bobo sat in a chair and gnawed on an entire pizza contently. Meanwhile I stared at the unfamiliar faces zipping by.

"Well, look who it is," someone said merrily walking up behind us.

I lazily cocked my head and turned toward the voice.

"Been looking all day for you, pal."

"I asked you to cover for me, didn't I?" I questioned.

"Have a little faith in your ol' buddy. I took care of it." the all too familiar passer-by said. "Not to worry."

I sighed. "I owe you one Noah."

"Twelve to be exact." Noah said sitting down. "And you can start by picking up the tab."

Noah was the kind of guy you'd see in a library or museum. He was quite an overachiever with an air of confidence about him. He was wearing blue jeans and a white collared shirt. Whereas he was gifted in his mind, Noah's physique left a lot to be desired. His clean-shaven face and short hair gave him a very professional look.

"Kid, I don't know how you do it." Bobo commented. "But you obviously have a gift for this."

"It's nothing like that. Let's just say I have friends in high places." Noah muttered.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing."

Bobo flashed me a look but said nothing.

Noah shoved a pizza back into his mouth and sighed, "So where you been anyway?"

"I've been busy."

Noah glanced over at the lone girl at the ticket counter across the room. She was small and short with long, blonde hair. She wore a pink sun dress and matching sandals. She was almost like a doll as she stared intently into the glass, trying to decide what to take.

A small smirk crept across Noah's face.

"Busy playing hooky, am I right?"

I ripped a bit of the pizza from the rest and placed it on my plate.

"It's her birthday today."

Having finally decided on and gotten a pink bunny, the girl skipped back towards our table.

"You never change. If I didn't know better, I'd probably mistake you for her older brother."

I looked at the girl silently.

"As if I could ever be someone's family."

The young girl looked over at me with a beaming smile.

"Rex!" she exclaimed. "Look at what I got!"

"How's it going, Birthday Girl?" I asked with a smile. "Want to tell Noah how old you are?"

"I'm ten!"

Noah chuckled. "You'll be as tall as Annie in no time."

"And stronger too! Soon I'm going to join Providence!"

"Hah! Still on with that? You'll get there in no time! Count on it!"

Noah let out another chuckle before turning to me again.

"I'm heading out," he said. "Homework and stuff. See you later?"

I nodded. Noah strolled out of the pizzeria and disappeared into the crowd.

"We should get going too, Squirt." I said and stood up from my seat.

As I started toward the door I noticed Amanda's face. She had puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms. She looked just like her older sister.

"If you're gonna pout, I can leave you here."

Amanda didn't budge.

Bobo looked at the clerk.

"Hey, buddy. How many pizzas could you make out of this kid?"

Amanda squealed and clung to my arm. I laughed and walked out into the cool night air.

In an electronics store nearby, I stopped to watch the image of the local news station on all of the display televisions. It showed blurry video of a rampaging Skyscraper-sized EVO tearing apart some unnamed city. From what I could make out, the government was boasting to the country that America was safe, due to its sophisticated missile defense systems. And because it was the home of the strongest base of Providence.

While Bobo went to go check out something, Amanda and I continued as I took her home.

"What do you want for your birthday?" I asked Amanda.

"I want an enormous bowl of ice cream. With sprinkles."

"You'll get fat though."

"I will not!"

"Will too."

"Nuhuh!"

"Okay… If you say so. Don't say I didn't warn you."

She stopped and looked at her feet. "Well there is something else..."

"Something else?"

She nodded.

"Go on." I said.

"Do you like my sister?"

"Annie?"

"Mhm."

"Well I guess so. Why?"

She beamed. "No reason. It's great that you do."


	3. Chapter 3

Paragon by Liquid Atomization

Chapter 3

OoOoO

I breathed into my hands before slowly rubbing them together, then repeated, watching the misty breath curl around my fists.

"You know you can't just keep avoiding her like this," Noah said, leaning against the opposite wall.

I shot him a dirty look before staring back down at my feet.

"I know."

"Especially Claire. She'll get angry, you know she will. It'll be all, 'how dare you lead Annie on like this' and no more, 'Give him time, he's just going through something. He'll reveal his feelings in no time."

I frowned.

It had been a week since the whole incident in the hallway and at this point, I was the only one who was unaware of what had REALLY happened. Of course, Annie had felt it necessary to tell Claire, who had obviously seen no way around telling Noah. Which ended in everyone pitted against me as I wrestled with locking myself up in isolation for the rest of my sad, pathetic little life.

Oh, and what a week it had been.

I still couldn't believe that Noah and Claire were officially dating. Granted that they have been dating for almost 4 months now (much to Noah's insistence that he did tell me), but still its just so weird. Especially after the bunny incident.

Who knew Noah could ever have a chance with a girl? Granted, I guess they are quite similar. In a way. But an actual girl girl? The pool was that the whole thing would disperse after a couple days.

But as it was. Bobo was a hundred dollars richer.

And of course Claire had told Noah that Annie needed to get out more. Suggesting that he try to set her up, again, with me. Since apparently she 'had the time of her life and needed someone positive like Rex to be more present in her life.'

Claire has failed to say anything that would inform me on how Annie felt about the whole situation. So, I had spent the week avoiding everyone to the best of my ability, but mostly Annie. The only other person I had seen, since Holiday turned out to be his accomplice and was helping him, was Noah.

Who just would not give up!

"And you know Holiday's gonna be on your case soon too. And then, as soon as she gets tired of waiting, Annie will be on you, too. So, you really should-"

"Noah? Dude really? I know."

It was getting old.

I sighed and looked at the door, seeing a flash of blonde appear around the side.

"Tomorrow, okay?" I said.

It was the same line I'd been saying all week.

"W-w-why does it have to be so c-c-cold?" Noah suddenly chattered, wrapping tighter in his jacket.

"It's a freezer, Noah. When it's turned on, it gets cold," I muttered, clenching and unclenching my hands.

"Well, it's s-s-stupid," He continued, only earning an eye roll.

"So go wait inside the lab then. You don't need to be here," I said, raising an eyebrow as I stood. "Holiday should be done completing her tests."

"Thank goodness" Noah said, swiftly getting to his feet. He narrowed his eyes back at me. "Oh, stop smirking! You should try being normal for once!"

Hugging himself, Noah marched off, but the smirk didn't fall from my lips.

"Hate the c-c-cold.." Noah grumbled, marching through the tunnel. "Hate the cold."

Something hit the back of his head. Hard. Noah slammed into the wall as his back quickly found the floor. He glanced around, eyes wide, immediately searching for danger.

"Noah!" I screamed just as a figure dripping black liquid walked from around the corner.

It let out a blood curdling scream as it grabbed onto the front of Noah's shirt, trying to pull him closer to it.

"Get off of him!" I yelled as I moved quickly, delivering a kick to it's head. The zombie effortlessly threw me off.

Noah held on tightly and struggled against the zombie's grip. It almost looked human, but I knew it wasn't. It was probably Peter Meechum again.

Smashing a fist into its head, I glared at the thing. I might have been strong, but these zombies had a pretty tough grip to beat and it obviously wasn't going to let go of Noah anytime soon.

"Noah, take off your jacket" I ordered, hoping that it only had a grip on the jacket and not the shirt underneath. He looked at me with scared eyes that had tears coming down his cheeks, shaking his head.

"Do it!" I yelled, voice cracking as he continued to struggle. It was going to get him if we stayed like this any longer. And for the life of me, why weren't my nanites responding?!

Screaming out in frustration, I slammed another kick into the zombie's chest. It managed to be enough to make it suddenly let go of him. I pushed Noah backwards quickly out of harms way before I fell.

The zombie fell as well onto my legs. I began to kick it in the head before it got a hold of me, but it was too late. Groaning at me, it grabbed one of my legs. But I continued to kick and thrash around, scooting myself up in an attempt to get away from it.

However, just like with Noah, its grip was nearly impossible to get out of.

"Rex!" I heard Noah cry, but did not risk looking away from the zombie at my feet. Letting out a short yell, I managed to get my leg free and starting kicking the zombie's face, hoping to get it off.

A low clicking noise caught my attention. I looked back just in time to see Annie raise a missile launcher on her shoulder.

"Annie no!" I screamed as I finally managed to kick the zombie off of me.

A second later, it's head was practically mush and it stopped moving.

"An-," I started as I got up, but she beat me to it.

"Why did you do that?! You couldn't have gotten yourself killed!" Annie yelled, dropping the weapon and running to face me. Her face was covered with dry and wet tears as well as her eyeliner. Blood was on her jeans, shirt and both hands. Standing up, I moved towards her.

"What happened to you?" I questioned her, reaching for her hand, but she moved it away.

"You always try to be the big hero, and I appreciate it, but this was too much! Why would you put your life on the line?!" she yelled, her chest rising and falling with her deep breaths. My throat closed up on me as I looked down, not responding to her right away.

"I can't tell you why." I replied to her in a soft voice, clearing my throat.

"Yeah right!" she yelled, moving her hands up and pushing me. "When you're done trying to be the hero. I'll be waiting."


End file.
